"Your highness would forsake Austria!" cried Eugene, alarmed.
"Ask rather, my son, whether Austria has not forsaken me," was the mournful reply. "It is of this that I would speak with you. You are the only officer in the army that does not bear me ill-will; and to your sound and impartial judgment I am about to submit the question of my resignation."
"Resignation!"
"Yes; but first let us talk of the campaign which is before us. You know that its main object is the capture of Belgrade."
Eugene bowed assent.
The duke laid his finger on a topographical chart that lay on a table close by. "Here is the key which opens the door to Turkey. Unless we obtain this key, our past victories are all without significance, and for years we have been pouring out Christian blood in vain."
"But we shall take Belgrade," cried Eugene. "We have sixty-six thousand well-armed men, all eager for the fray."
"And the Turks have one hundred and fifty thousand."
"But they are not a consolidated army, and we must prevent them from uniting their forces."
"True; and for this end I have sent Prince Louis of Baden to Bosnia with six thousand men, that he may keep them busy at Gradiska. But the long march has exhausted his troops, and he has written to ask for re-enforcements. I must grant them; and to-morrow I send him four thousand men. How many does that leave us?"